SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewSerenading Louie
|
It's just when you are home, you spend every waking hour asleep.
— Gabrielle
|
Back of Jason Butler Harner as Alex and Jason O'Mara as Carl (Hugo Glendinning) |
Played with fluidity in the same space, two couples rotate, each setting their domestic life in this same detailed 1960s living room set with its doors into the bedroom and to the outside. At least initially they rotate but by the end of the play one person or pair may sit quietly in darkness while the other couple's scene is played out.
Alex (Jason Butler Harner) has a high powered legal career and seems to spend every waking moment working but see the quote above for how this feels to his wife. His wife Gabby (Charlotte Emmerson) is homemaking and he's pissed off. She's "talking to the roast" he tells us and sure enough, she is addressing a piece of meat and we can only sympathise with the misogynist. Gabrielle is nervous after Alex's high powered court case meant his family might be threatened and she thinks she is being followed. Carl (Jason O'Mara), who doesn't hate women was a sports star and everyone knows his "wife" Mary is having an affair with the company accountant.
The breakdown in Alex's relationship takes the form of bitching about Gabby. His women hating speeches as he confides in Carl are revealing and extreme. This 1970s play has the men reacting to the pressures on them created by the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Alex complains that the girls of his generation are so oversexed that they wear out their husbands in six weeks! The tragedy of the relationship between Gabby, the needy woman and her rejecting husband is that so much that he describes about her in a cruel way is held up for the audience to ridicule. She does parade around in a succession of baby doll nightdresses attempting to lure her husband into bed which is pathetic but desperate.
The second act sees the four socialising together, knocking back Sidecars and making small talk. Gabrielle and Mary however talk about their men. Mary looks back on the grass is greener days of their early relationship and says, "I don't actually think I loved him then but I loved him then now!" The superficial amiability between the four is exposed when Alex and Gabby leave and nicey, nicey Mary explodes with relief "Jeeesus" she says and we hope out of earshot of the departing guests.
The male performances are excellent. Jason O'Mara's sympathetic, emasculated aging sportsman contrasts with Jason Butler Harner's unsympathetic selfish, hard nosed lawyer. The parts for the women aren't as interesting but Charlotte Emmerson as Gabby wheedles, her self esteem spiralling downwards and Geraldine Somerville brazens it out as Mary.
The title Serenading Louie comes from a song by a Yale "a cappella " group The Whiffenpoofs, a reference lost on the British audience but presumably alluding to the camaraderie of college friends. Serenading Louie contrasts the destructive behaviour of each married couple but shows the support that the men, friends from college, can give each other. It is a bleak sequel to Valentine's Day but a play that will stimulate discussion.
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
| Serenading Louie
Written by Lanford Wilson Directed by Simon Curtis Starring: Charlotte Emmerson, Jason Butler Harner, Jason O'Mara, Geraldine Somerville Design: Peter McKintosh Lighting: Guy Hoare Composer and Sound: Adam Cork Running time: Two hours 15 minutes with one interval Box Office: 0844 871 7624 Booking to 27th March 2010 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 16th February 2010 performance at the Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street, London WC2H 9LX (Tube:Covent Garden) |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. |
|
London Theatre Tickets Lion King Tickets Billy Elliot Tickets Mighty Boosh Tickets Mamma Mia Tickets We Will Rock You Tickets Theatre Tickets |
